Breathe on me breath of God; Fill me with life anew ... (Edwin Hatch, 1835-1889)

Like a "breath of fresh air," this week's Scripture texts remind us of our source of life - that which sustains and renews us. Words like "mighty wind," "breath," and "Holy Spirit" punctuate the pericopes. And they call to mind Genesis 1:2, where we read that "the Spirit of God [or a mighty wind] was moving over the water," and Genesis 2:7, where it is recorded that "God breathed life into the man" (CEV). As noted in the words above from a hymn written by Edwin Hatch, God supplies us with the breath of life. Psalm 104, a beautiful hymn in praise of creation, includes these words:

Our LORD, by your wisdom you made so many things; The whole earth is covered with your living creatures.

You created all of them by your Spirit, and you give new life to the earth. (verses 24, 30, CEV)

New life in the Spirit is God's promise to us. On this Day of Pentecost, our Gospel text transports us back fifty days to the day of Christ's Resurrection. It is evening; the disciples are locked behind closed doors. Suddenly, Jesus is in their midst! His post-resurrection appearance catches them off guard. After the disciples determine that their Lord is indeed risen and is with them in the flesh, Jesus breathes on them and says, "Receive the Holy Spirit" (John 20:22).

The disciples receive that which Jesus promised in his final discourse with them prior to his arrest and crucifixion - the Spirit of truth who will guide them into the full truth, teach them everything, help them, and who will keep on living in them (John 14:16, 17, 26; 15:26, 27; 16:13). Filled with the Spirit, the disciples are now equipped to carry out Jesus' mission - to forgive sins (John 20:23) and tell all people of every nation to turn to God (Luke 24:47). Jesus tells his followers, "I am sending you, just as the Father has sent me" (John 20:21b, CEV), words that recall Jesus' prayer for his followers on the night of his betrayal: "I am sending them into the world, just as you sent me" (John 17:18, CEV).

On this Day of Pentecost, the text from Acts records the event that takes place ten days after Christ's ascension into heaven. The Holy Spirit, promised by Jesus before he ascended (Acts 1:8), has come like "a mighty wind" and as "fiery tongues" on the expectant disciples (Acts 2:2, 3, CEV). Today, we, as twenty-first century witnesses to the gospel, are also recipients of God's Holy Spirit, this life-giving breath of God.

Sometimes those who receive God's Spirit are described as being "on fire" for the Lord! Yes, as "Pentecost" people, we should be "on fire" because God's Spirit continues to live in us. Jesus' words to his disciples are now his words to us. We have received the breath of God, and, like the disciples, we are sent to tell everyone the good news about Jesus. As the Church, Christ's body on earth, we continue to be "led by God's Spirit" to proclaim that "Jesus is Lord" (1 Corinthians 12:3, CEV). Receive the Holy Spirit!

This week's Reflection was prepared by Barbara Bernstengel, who serves on the staff of the American Bible Society as Director of the Education Unit in the Nida Institute for Biblical Scholarship.

This week's Reflection was prepared by Barbara Bernstengel, who serves on the staff of the American Bible Society as Director of the Education Unit in the Nida Institute for Biblical Scholarship.

Perhaps the hardest question that Christians have to ask of themselves is "what does God want of me?" Those of us who have totally committed our lives to Christ want to know how to follow the God who has given his life that we might know what freedom is. It is part of our Christian commitment.

The Gospel reading for this week takes place following the final Passover meal that Jesus celebrates with his disciples. He tells them he will not be with them for much longer and bids them to love one another so that others will know that they are his disciples.

It is clear that Jesus is preparing his followers to carry on the work that he has been doing and that he will return to take them with him. Thomas, who in John's Gospel is often the one who asks the important questions, asserts that the disciples don't know the way. Plainly, Thomas does not understand that Jesus is speaking of his death. And so he asks the important question: "How can we know the way?"

But Jesus answers saying, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life!"

There is more than one level of understanding this story. There is the understanding that Jesus' first disciples would have had about where Jesus was going and there is also the understanding that later followers of John would have had hearing this story some sixty years after the event.

Thomas wants to know if Jesus is taking them back to Galilee or some such destination where Jesus carried out his ministry. But Jesus is trying to prepare his disciples for his death and his resurrection. John, on the other hand, is trying to assure his followers that Jesus' life, death, and resurrection is the way to know that the place of which Jesus speaks is one that is prepared for them within God's family.

The word in Greek for way can be understood at many different levels. It can mean a geographical location, or a means to a geographical location, or it can mean a level of knowing. In John, the way is knowing Jesus.

Jesus' mission was to show the world the Father - to show us how to love one another. Philip requests that Jesus show his followers the Father. Once again, Jesus is speaking on another level. "If you know me, Philip, you know the Father," Jesus seems to be saying.

Today, Christians need not worry about how to fulfill God's will. We have been promised by Jesus that, if we follow him, we will know the Father. We search the Gospels for ways to more surely follow Jesus' Way, but still we know that we are called to participate in God's family. We live out the 'destination' of God's house when we, too, show others the Father by the way that we act and live. When we live lives that welcome others to God's all-inclusive love, and become living examples of that love, we know the way that Jesus took.

This week's Reflection was prepared by the Rev. Lauren Gough, an Episcopal priest serving as pastor at St. Luke Lutheran Church, Sidney, New York.